Fri, Jun 21, 2013, 07:24 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 21, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that he has appointed a three-member presidential commission to investigate a mass grave found last year in the Central Province city of Matale.
The Commission will be chaired by the retired Supreme Court judge S.I. Imam. The other two members are retired high court judge Bandula Atapattu and former Secretary General of parliament Dhammika Kithulgoda, President's office said on Friday.
The mandate and the time period for the probe will be announced later, President's spokesman said.
The Presidential commission's investigation would be in addition to the full investigation ordered by the Matale magistrate for the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of police to conduct on the grave.
The mass grave was uncovered last November during excavation for construction at the Matale Hospital premises. Skeletal remains of 154 people were found during excavations carried out from the 26th of November until the 12th of March this year.
It is believed that the skeletal remains unearthed from the Matale mass grave were of insurgents from the Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) killed during the 1988-89 violence.
Sri Lanka's Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) last month called on the government to expedite the probe on the Matale mass grave.